My First Impression: Shea Moisture JBCO Treatment Masque
I HAD to taste it - when I twisted open that jar, and tore off the first bit of that protective seal - gasp! The fragrance of a cake bakery arrested my nostrils. It was pure heaven. I took the deepest breath of vanilla-flavoured air....and I...tasted it (lol!). It smelled soooo good. Thankfully, the taste was awful so there was no temptation to ingest it. The scent is relatively mild, but lasts a long time. Five days after using the product, my room still smelled of it and up to the point of publication, the mild vanilla scent is still in my hair.
I am talking about the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen, Grow & Restore Treatment Masque with Shea Butter, Peppermint & Keratin.
I purchased this masque as an emergency treatment for my hair. My graduation photo shoot was the next day and my hair was making me feel frustrated because it wasn't maintaining any stretch to it. I don't possess any styling products except my EcoStyler Olive Oil Protein Gel and Shea Moisture Frizz-Free Mousse. My Dax grease wasn't going to cut it this time in terms of styling because it isn't a good styling product, just a great sealant which adds shine and retain moisture in my hair.
What was I going to do??!! After all, for my graduation photo shoot I wanted to look elegant, formal yet maintain my natural look. I resisted the temptation to use my wig, purchase a hair piece or flat-iron my hair. But, all of those options were appealing to me.
I finally decided that I needed to spend money on something I hadn't tried before. It wasn't easy to cash out on this product, but it was all for the sake of my graduation photo.
So, here's my first impressions review...
APPEARANCE
The colour of this deep treatment masque resembles coffee with cream. It's hard to get a definite colour. The picture will have to do. When you first get it, it may look slightly matte, but once you use it, and it settles, it maintains a nice shine. When you pick it up, though, it looks like a pudding or cake batter.
TEXTURE
This product is smooth to the touch, literally melting (it seems) into your skin when you rub it between your fingers. It has a bit of resistance to it when you try to scoop some out of the container. It has the consistency of either a Jello pudding, a mousse or cake batter. It is firm, but soft at the same time.
The slip is GREAT! When I applied it to my hair, the slip was the same. It reminded me of the slip I felt when I applied my Plantain and Okra Mask or even my plain Okra Conditioning Mask.
APPLICATION TO MY HAIR
After detangling and shampooing my hair, I liberally applied this treatment masque to my hair. It made me a bit anxious knowing its cost, but I had bought it as an emergency treatment for my hair so I used it as such. I was not sparing anything. I didn't use all, of course, but I wasn't being stingy either. Surprisingly, for all the gouging out I did, when I was finished, the container looked as if I hardly used anything at all. I left it on my hair for about 15 minutes, then washed it out.
* * RESULTS * *
My first time use of this masque brought conflicting feelings. On the one hand, I didn't experience any extraordinary softness, like I've heard from some YouTubers, and I can't remember getting extra shine, either. Yet, my hair did feel soft and the product did my hair no wrong. It may sound strange, but it's the fact that it didn't do anything negative to my hair that makes me pleased about it. Weird, I know, but I can't explain it in any other way.
I will definitely be using it again, but I will leave it on for 20-25 minutes.
I didn't take any pictures of the application process because, but I will do a follow up video of the complete process. I think that the treatment is very rich so I am inclined to use it perhaps every two weeks, rather than every week.
And in case you 're wondering how my final graduation hairstyle came out, here is a pic...
2nd APPLICATION UPDATE:
The second time I used the mask, I left it on for 30 minutes (in addition to application time which was about 7-10 minutes). This time, I experienced all the benefits that I had heard from other naturalistas:
1) It detangled my hair like butter
2) My curls were very defined after rinsing it out
Bye!
Until my next post,
